Chicago corn lost more ground on Tuesday as a rapidly advancing United States harvest pressured prices, while wheat eased near last session’s weakest level since early July on hopes of Black Sea exports, and soybeans fell on ample harvest supplies, Reuters reported. The most active corn contract fell 0.3 percent to 4.535 dollars a bushel as of 0318 GMT, wheat fell 0.4 percent to 6.1375 dollars, and soybeans fell 0.1 percent to 12.51 dollars. A Singapore based trader quoted by Reuters said seasonal harvest pressure is prompting funds to liquidate long positions.
The harvest numbers are the USDA’s. The soybean harvest was 79 percent complete as of Sunday, in line with trade expectations and two points ahead of the average pace, and the corn harvest was 60 percent finished, six points behind the average pace, the Department of Agriculture said in its weekly progress report on Monday. Winter wheat planting stood at 76 percent of the projected area as of October 25, one point below the five year average.
Wheat’s second driver is the Black Sea. Wheat dropped to its lowest since early July on Monday on reports that Russia was reviewing proposals to ensure the safe transport of grain across the Black Sea and was in contact with Turkey on the issue, Interfax reported, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov. No agreement was reported, so the move prices a possibility, not a reopened corridor.
Export inspections were mixed. Soybean inspections rose to 2.476 million tonnes in the week ended October 22, including 1.652 million tonnes shipped to China, while corn inspections fell to 625,233 tonnes and wheat inspections fell to 183,824 tonnes, Dow Jones and UkrAgroConsult reported from USDA data. The site market tables updated October 27 at 06:00 ET put wheat at 616.5 cents, up 0.08 percent, corn at 454.0 cents, down 0.22 percent, and soybeans at 1,256.8 cents, up 1.25 percent, a later snapshot than the Reuters session reporting.